Granblu Fantasy Relink is probably the strangest RPG I've ever played. I know absolutely nothing about Granblu outside of it being a mobile game with a console fighting game spin-off. Beyond that, I know nothing. When I heard Relink was a JRPG set in the universe I was like, "I like JRPG's." So I decided to give it a try sight unseen.
The game starts out with you and your friends on your big airship on the way to a new port town....wait a second? Who are these people? Why am I the captain? How do i have an airship and a crew with whom we've already been on many many adventures because everyone has a solid friendship and bond? Did I accidentally download a save in the final chapters of the game? Where is my RPG?
So it turns out, Relink seems to assume you've played the mobile game or something because all the adventures that normally would have bonded a ragtag party with the power of friendship to kill god have already happened and now you're looking for a new adventure. One of the girls in your crew can summon literally Bahamut, which is a bad idea because something goes wrong and he gets rather pissed at us. Fast Forward to two chapters later when she summons him again and he decides to be nice this time with no explaination and it's never brought up again.
Then you actually get to the hub town and it all makes sense. This isn't a JRPG at all, it's a console version of a mobile monster hunter game. There are like 17 characters you can play as which all use different weapons and fighting styles, and an ever increasingly dramatic boss monster to fight to gather materials to make better weapons for all the characters. Who the hell sold me a game with JRPG on the outside and Monster Hunter on the inside? The game even has a mission structure where you talk to a character at a desk, accept a mission, teleport to the battle arena where the mission takes place, and immediately get teleported back once your done. It's tight, concise, and doesn't have any bells an whistles to waste your time. But a JRPG this is not, and that's what I wanted.
So I can't help but be a bit confused by the whole thing. The gameplay itself is fine, the characters feel good to play mostly, except the twats with guns who feel like useless turrets. The boss monsters are big with a wide range of attacks and it all flows pretty well. The numbers get nice and big too which scratches my incremental game itch, number go up makes my brain tingle with joy. With that it's not a bad game, it's just not really a game I want to play. I wanted a grand sky pirate rpg, and what I got was...something else and while the something else is good, it feels like getting a steak when I ordered chicken. There's nothing wrong with chicken, but I wanted and paid for steak.
The game starts out with you and your friends on your big airship on the way to a new port town....wait a second? Who are these people? Why am I the captain? How do i have an airship and a crew with whom we've already been on many many adventures because everyone has a solid friendship and bond? Did I accidentally download a save in the final chapters of the game? Where is my RPG?
So it turns out, Relink seems to assume you've played the mobile game or something because all the adventures that normally would have bonded a ragtag party with the power of friendship to kill god have already happened and now you're looking for a new adventure. One of the girls in your crew can summon literally Bahamut, which is a bad idea because something goes wrong and he gets rather pissed at us. Fast Forward to two chapters later when she summons him again and he decides to be nice this time with no explaination and it's never brought up again.
Then you actually get to the hub town and it all makes sense. This isn't a JRPG at all, it's a console version of a mobile monster hunter game. There are like 17 characters you can play as which all use different weapons and fighting styles, and an ever increasingly dramatic boss monster to fight to gather materials to make better weapons for all the characters. Who the hell sold me a game with JRPG on the outside and Monster Hunter on the inside? The game even has a mission structure where you talk to a character at a desk, accept a mission, teleport to the battle arena where the mission takes place, and immediately get teleported back once your done. It's tight, concise, and doesn't have any bells an whistles to waste your time. But a JRPG this is not, and that's what I wanted.
So I can't help but be a bit confused by the whole thing. The gameplay itself is fine, the characters feel good to play mostly, except the twats with guns who feel like useless turrets. The boss monsters are big with a wide range of attacks and it all flows pretty well. The numbers get nice and big too which scratches my incremental game itch, number go up makes my brain tingle with joy. With that it's not a bad game, it's just not really a game I want to play. I wanted a grand sky pirate rpg, and what I got was...something else and while the something else is good, it feels like getting a steak when I ordered chicken. There's nothing wrong with chicken, but I wanted and paid for steak.
